Introducing A Corporate Culture In M&A

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) refers to transactions between two companies typically integrating in one or more form. Companies usually acquire or merge with another business for many reasons. For Republic Financial Holdings Limited (RFHL), acquiring banking operations in The Eastern Caribbean (EC) and The British Virgin Islands (BVI) was an opportunity to diversify the Group’s income generating base, provide increased business opportunities for our clients across the territories in which we operate and further expand job prospects for our staff. Further, it is our belief that bringing these operations under the RFHL umbrella will ultimately create stronger and more resilient economies in the respective countries and the wider region.

It’s no secret that sometimes mergers and acquisitions don’t go as initially planned. What then might be the most common reason for failure? According to the International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, the largest contributor is the human (cultural) factor. A Baltic Business School research document referenced research by CFO Magazine, Business Week and Fortune, stating that “70% of mergers and acquisitions fail to achieve their anticipated synergies and 50% suffer an overall drop-off in productivity in the first four to eight months because the leaders do not recognize that the human factor is one of the most important issues”.

An article by Deloitte defines culture as, “Culture consists of the long-standing, largely implicit shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that influence behavior, attitudes, and meaning in a company (or society)”. Why is it so important? And how much influence does it have over an organization and its employees?

We, at Republic Financial Holdings Limited recognize that with our EC and BVI acquisitions, there will be a “personality shift”. Organizations are like people, made up of people and can therefore evolve and change. However, the initial challenge is understanding that deep rooted culture cannot be easily changed into a new shared culture. According to Beaudan and Smith, “Creating a shared culture involves careful discovery, inventing, reseeding and letting go”.

In order to ensure that Republic Bank’s acquisitions have the greatest chance of success, both the current and new employees are pivotal. It is the responsibility of our people managing the transition to introduce our corporate personality; the way we interact with customers, how we treat one another as co-employees and the way leaders within the organization uplift, develop and reward individuals while achieving the desired goals, our Core Values.

Establishing a new culture requires leaders to demonstrate, behave and act in a manner consistent with the new culture. One way that we ensure this is through our Learning and Talent Development Centre (LTDC), where the department’s role is to develop all employees with the key attitudes, skills and knowledge required to perform their current jobs and prepare them for future roles & responsibilities. We also foster training and education so that our leaders are equipped to resolve cultural conflicts. It is our belief that culture must be at the forefront for the organization to grow and be a desirable place to work, develop and prosper.

It’s been over a year and the transitionary period has run quite smoothly. We recognize that in the context of each territory, the existing beliefs and values of our employees and customers are unique. Therefore, rather than a complete overhaul, we work with our Republic family towards meaningful integration for the benefit of all.